KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysians, including civil servants, must be
proficient in English to seize opportunities for future economic
survival, said Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Sidek Hassan.
Mastering the language was vital because China had been predicted to
be the world’s number one English-speaking country within 10 years, he
said.
“As English will remain the global lingua franca for
centuries to come, we must emphasise proficiency for communication,
negotiation and articulation purposes.
“For example, proficiency
in English is vital when negotiating FTAs (Free Trade Agreement),” he
said after presenting a keynote address at the 11th National Human
Resources Summit here yesterday.
Sidek also stressed that
mastering English would not make a person less patriotic.
“In
fact, we will be more patriotic if we can master English and use it to
get the best deal for our country,” he said, noting that a survey in
India showed that 100% of its college graduates could speak English.
Earlier in his keynote address on “Building Empowered Organisations:
A Case for Malaysia”, he said students must be prepared for jobs and
technologies that had yet to exist.
“We need to think 27th
century today,” he said.
He added that equality and equitability
were crucial in creating empowered organisations and empowered
individuals, and that under 1Malaysia no one would be left out or
sidelined.
Sidek also noted that only 26% of the 10.6 million
working population serve in a professional or managerial capacity.
In
developed countries, he said professionals made up between 35% and 50%
of the working population.
“Only 80% of our workforce are
educated up to upper secondary level,” he said.
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